


Kept Me Alive

by MeredithBrody



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-08 02:23:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1127245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jon and Erika indulge in one of their not-so-secret meetings during which Jon reflects on how often those nights have been a turning point in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kept Me Alive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sokorra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sokorra/gifts).



> This is a birthday fic for my friend, fellow Jorika shipper and all round awesome person Sokorra. Penblwydd Hapus.
> 
> The title is from the song that inspired this oneshot. "Those Nights" by Skillet.

For the longest time there had been no reason for Jonathan Archer to look forward to late nights, now they were the thing he looked forward to most of all. Even when he’d thought he was comfortable in himself, and in his own decisions, he hadn’t wanted to spend the long, late nights thinking or just being quiet. It had lead to too much second guessing, about almost everything in his life. Every decision he’d made had come flooding in those quiet moments and they had made things too hard for him to live with.

It was amazing how much that changed when you had someone to share the burdens with you, figuratively or literally, once the feeling of being alone had faded, so had everything else. It had only been a year since he’d let Erika back into his life, this was one of the few times they’d physically been together since that day. But what a difference it had made. He could once again stand to spend time alone with himself, reading or relaxing.

The bigger difference was that his quiet nights weren’t always alone any longer. If the two ships were together they had enough reasons to get together alone and talk. Often in his quarters, or hers, often with some soft drinks and a movie. Nobody questioned the set-up. Jon was fairly certain that Erika’s XO, at least, had an idea of what was going on. She’d been Erika’s best friend for many years and had been there when they had first been involved.

Tonight was one of the nights where he just enjoyed Erika’s company. They had gotten their business over and done with early, and had ended up sat here. Over the almost 15 years they’d known each other these nights had been important to him. Through the hardest parts of the NX project he’d always had a safe place to go, where he and Erika could just sit together and watch a movie or listen to music and fall asleep on the sofa.

Many times in those older days he’d just been trying to avoid things, and Erika’s arms had been open. Even when they’d been fighting he’d never wanted to flee her the way he had others. There had been nights like this that had actually led to them just climbing in her car and getting out of the city for a while. Sometimes just not being around the daily problems had been enough to cheer them both up. Those nights, all of them, had kept him alive and gotten him to where he was now.

A year earlier a similar night was how she had brought him back from the brink. She’d followed him, she’d pushed him, and he’d needed that. That was something that Erika had always been great at doing. All those nights through the years that he could count, where they’d laughed without reason, spoke without caring and just been happy together, they had been the nights he would always look back on and smile.

He suddenly became aware of a pair of eyes on his face, and he wondered how long Erika had been watching him for. He leant back slightly so he could try and see what had held her so captivated. Especially seeing as he obviously hadn’t noticed her watching him at first. She smiled at him and then reached up and gently ran her hand through his hair. “What are you thinking about?”

He thought for a moment if he should make something up, tell her he was thinking about anything else, but he also knew that would be pointless. She’d know that he’d made it up. Somehow she always knew, so instead he took a breath and smiled. “Just thinking back over all the times we’ve done this.”

“That’s a lot of times.” She snorted and pushed herself a little higher up the bed, resting her forehead against his cheek for a second. He took the opportunity to wrap his arm tighter around her back. “Too many times.”

He just grinned at her response. Squeezing he gently as he did. “I wouldn’t change them.” He replied quietly. That was the long and short of it all. No matter what had gone on in his life, he wouldn’t change a second of anything they’d done together in the last 15 years.

“I missed you, Jonathan.” She muttered, and he blinked a couple of times before he could even start to think about how to reply. Erika was rarely the first one to say something personal, even in a private setting, it just wasn’t her way. The fact she’d said it at all told him how much she had missed him, and the feeling was definitely mutual. He hadn’t realised how much until recently, since she’d returned.

“I missed you, too.” He smiled as she settled back against his shoulder and stole another handful of popcorn out of the bowl in his lap. He couldn’t imagine being anywhere else in this moment, or with anyone else right now. “Erika. Thank you.” He whispered against her temple, placing a gentle kiss there as he did.

“You’re welcome.” She smiled, leaning her head back far enough against his shoulder he could see her eyes. It was clear she didn’t need to ask why he was thanking her, she just knew. He grinned back at her and closed the gap between them, kissing her gently. Something kept bringing them back together, and maybe it was the universe’s way of telling them they weren’t as alone as they always thought. They had demanding and difficult jobs, and they needed each other. He could deny it all he wanted, but they did.

“Captain, you’re needed on the bridge.” Came a voice through the ship’s comm system. Just enough to draw both Captains’ attention, and remind them that they were never really off duty.

“I suppose I should go back to _Columbia_.” She muttered, obviously forgetting that he still had his finger on the panel. She didn’t seem at all bothered by that as he spoke to try and cover it.

“On my way.” He said to the open channel, hoping Hoshi’s ears hadn’t caught Erika’s comment. He rolled off the bed in the opposite direction to her and just took a moment to stretch. “Erika, wait.” He called out before she had the chance to even leave his quarters. There was still something he needed to say, even if she was going to try and beat him senseless when he did. At least that was his prophecy about it, not that it was going to stop him saying it.

“What?” She sounded just a little annoyed, and he couldn’t blame her. If something serious were happening and he were on _Columbia_ he’d be anxious to get back to his ship too.

“I love you.” He smiled as she turned back to him from the door and just shook her head. Letting him take a few steps closer to her. Either that or she was rooted to the spot in shock. He wasn’t sure he’d buy that though. She started chuckling a second later then shook her head back and forth.

“You’re an idiot.” She grinned then stepped onto her tiptoes and kissed him gently before swatting him on the rear with her PADD. “Get to the bridge.” Were her last words, but he knew her meaning even if she was too uncomfortable to say it. She loved him too, and they’d see each other soon. He felt that was probably the best he could hope for right now.


End file.
